[Added resources and updated deadline first; see link to previous news item below]
Barry Johnson, Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute/Brookings Institution (Oct 5)
“A proposed rule would require the Census Bureau to use tax records to verify where people report living for the 2030 Census. Tax data are valuable administrative records, but using them as a residence test could result in people being missed or counted in the wrong place: Tax data do not cover everyone; the addresses can be stale or nonresidential; and tax processing schedules do not align neatly with the 2030 Census calendar.”
Resources from the Georgetown University Massive Data Institute
“The goal of every census is to ‘count everyone once, only once, and in the right place.’ The requirement to count every person is so crucial to American life that it appears in the mandates of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution regarding apportionment and is reinforced in Title 13 of U.S. Code. Census counts are used for everything from apportionment to scientific research. Because the census is so important, research and policies that support an accurate count are essential. … If the proposed rule advances, it would become federal law (Code of Federal Regulations) rather than, as is traditional, simply being Census Bureau policy. Our research team assessed the potential consequences of several of the proposed changes.”
Population Reference Bureau (Sep 30)
“More than 1.5 million children were missed in the last U.S. census. In 2020, the census undercounted children under age 18 by an estimated 2.1%, according to the Census Bureau’s Demographic Analysis, an independent method for evaluating census coverage. The undercount was even higher for children under age 5, at 5.4%—the highest rate of any age group.
“Now the Census Bureau is proposing major changes to 2030 Census rules that could make some children even harder to count.
“The proposal, released Sept. 10, would count only U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents for congressional apportionment, excluding other foreign citizens who live here— including people on temporary student or work visas, asylum seekers, DACA or TPS recipients who are not lawful permanent residents, and undocumented immigrants. It would also change how the Bureau determines where people live, including using tax records as evidence of usual residence, and remove race and ethnicity questions from the census form. The Bureau is also considering adding a question about legal status.”
Count All Kids (Sep 18)
“On September 10, the Commerce Department released a proposed residence rule for the 2030 Census that would violate the constitution and the statute implementing it, and exclude millions of children and others from the 2030 Census. ... Several organizations including Count All Kids are preparing templates you can use to comment on the rule, and there are steps you can take now to prepare to comment.”
